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By STEVE MOCARSKY [email protected]
Sunday, July 27, 2003     Page: 1B

HAZLETON – Something stinks in the Hazleton Area School District – a former
school building that might soon be sold.
   
Some neighbors of the vacant A.D. Thomas Elementary School at Fourth and
Grant streets say the smell of mold and mildew emanates from the building
through broken windows and holes in the roof.
    “You can’t have your windows open or sit in the yard some days,” says
Lynn Campbell, who lives across the street. “My grandchildren won’t visit
when the smell is bad because they have respiratory problems.”
   
Campbell says she called the city health office, which referred her to the
School District. She says she spoke with maintenance supervisor Joe Cortese,
who referred her to business manager Tony Ryba.
   
“If it was my house that smelled like that, the health officer would be
here right away,” she says.
   
Campbell says School District security director Vincent Zola told her the
broken windows would be boarded up and the building cleaned.
   
A reporter counted at least 20 broken windows on the building’s second
floor and noticed mold growing on a basement wall.
   

   
At least one School District employee was seen in the building auditorium
on Wednesday. There was debris scattered in the auditorium and the floor was
buckled and had mildew on it.
   
A Dumpster outside the school was about a quarter full with broken tables,
toilets and other debris.
   
Maintenance director Joe Cortese says School District crews will board up
broken windows when he receives the materials he ordered. He didn’t know when
the materials would arrive.
   
Cortese says some of the school’s furniture, equipment and fixtures were
sold some time ago at auction and remaining items were offered for free to the
public. He says a crew has been sorting through remaining items to sell to a
scrap yard or discard.
   
Cortese says the school is being cleaned because the School District is
negotiating with a potential buyer. He says he does not know who is interested
in buying the school and Ryba declined to name the potential buyer.
   
Cortese says a crew put a sump pump in the basement to remove water, which
is causing the mildew problem. He didn’t think the mildew problem would be
solved by the School District’s efforts, but he hoped boarding the windows
would alleviate the smell.
   
Neighbor Joe Koval says he hasn’t noticed odors coming from the building,
but he says the School District should tear the building down because it’s an
eyesore. He says children playing baseball in the school lot damaged
neighbors’ vehicles with stray fly balls.
   
“The kids aren’t bad, it’s just when they play hardball,” Koval says.
   
Koval says he heard rumors that the building would be turned into a
recreation center for area youth, which he thought was a good idea.
   
Several years ago, local businessman George Mehalshick planned to buy the
building and do just that, but zoning problems thwarted the effort.
   
Neighbor John Hrabovecky says he has noticed a mildew smell, especially on
warm, humid days after a rainstorm.
   
He says he hopes the School District boards the windows soon, but he’s more
hopeful that the building will be put back in use.
   
“I would hate to see them knock it down. It’s a good structure. The brick
looks good. You hate to see a good building torn down. You can’t make a
building like that today … I would like to see something for the kids,”
Hrabovecky says.
   
Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 459-2005.